Sandy Sum

Sandy Sum is an incoming UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on how environmental change and policies shape socioeconomic and environmental inequalities, particularly in the context of water resources and management. She holds a Ph.D. in environmental economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), where she investigated distributional impacts of environmental policies through water resource frameworks.

Education:

• Bachelor’s in Economics, National University of Singapore
• Master’s in Economics, UCSB

Research Interests:

• Drivers of environmental inequality
• Policy impacts on social/environmental equity
• Individual responses to environmental risks

Articles highlight her focus on groundwater markets, drought-driven disparities, oil policy impacts, and equity in low-carbon transitions. Her work integrates economic theory, natural science data, and advanced econometric methods.

No scientific awards listed. Her advising committee includes Tamma Carleton (advisor), Kyle Meng, Olivier Deschênes, Chris Costello, and natural science advisor Ashley Larsen. She previously worked at UC Berkeley’s Global Policy Lab under Professor Solomon Hsiang.

Labs/Teams: Engaged with Tamma Carleton’s research group at UCSB and will join UC Davis’ Agricultural and Resource Economics team.